Another Year Voleder

 
I’ve mentioned my human family in several past blogs (see specifically October 2010’s Critter Camping and December of the same year’s The Christ of Christmas), which consists of Dad (who once tried to cook me over a campfire), Mom (who is a very sweet lady), and their daughters, twin girls. Well, today is the twins’ birthday, and incidentally a milestone at that. And while the elder twin is perfectly happy with it (“Yay – another birthday!” she squeals), the other one has threatened to melt me down into a pool of rubber goo if I squeak you how old they are.
 
Each year they have a tradition of celebrating their birthday dinner at their favorite restaurant, Chili’s, and they always order the same dish: steak-and-chicken fajitas for two. (I’m glad that’s not rat meat they’re consuming. And since I’ve decided to keep my muzzle shut about their age, it won’t be my whiskers on the chopping block – for tonight, at least.) It’s typically over dinner that they celebrate the times of their birth: 8:42 p.m. for the elder, three minutes later for the younger. And although I’m not sure if they got the “extended life” gene my wife Bobette and I did back in our days in the lab, they’re certainly still kickin’ it … or, er, pawin’ it, as we rodents like to squeak.
 
I gave a lot of thought as to what presents I’d like to get them for the occasion. But then I remembered the “presents” I left in the packing box of the elder twin when she moved into her first apartment, and recalled – quite pawfully – that she wasn’t too thrilled about them. (What can I squeak? When a rat’s gotta go, a rat’s gotta go!) So in the end I decided the best gifts to each would be a snuffly rat kiss and a nuzzle of their muzzles with my little rat nose. And as an added bonus, I also helped them dispatch their favorite birthday dessert, white chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake. (What a thoughtful rodent I am.)
 
The twins and I have developed a special bond over the years, and I have taken them into my family, just as they have welcomed me into theirs. I’ve comforted them, protected them, and even been to graduate school with one of them (more about that in a later blog). So while the younger twin grapples with the passing of one decade and entrance into another, I’ll send her a reminder in the words of famous actress Billie Burke: “Age is something that doesn’t matter, unless you are cheese.”
 
Happy birthday my dear twins, Sabrina and Sandra, from your loving little rat,
Bob